Sunday, April 18, 2010

Hot and Covered...The Monocle Seasonal Shop, Hong Kong

On April 15th, Monocle’s retail presence opened its first space within Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford. The Pacific Place location will house many of Monocle’s collaboration products and join previous locations including Palma de Mallorca, Paris and Stockholm. The space will remain open until May 23rd, 2010.

Open for five weeks, the Lane Crawford x Monocle partnership marks the first Asian home for The Monocle Shop – with previous locations including Palma de Mallorca, Paris and Stockholm. The 3m x 3m space will be designed by Monocle’s creative team in London and will stock exclusive Monocle collaborations with the likes of Comme des Garçons, Porter and BlackBerry, plus Monocle’s own products such as the limited edition posters and Monocle Live CD.

Tyler Brûlé, editor in chief of Monocle, is thrilled to open the first Monocle seasonal shop in China with such an esteemed retailer as Lane Crawford.

“We’re long-time fans of Lane Crawford’s approach to buying and attention to service,” says Brûlé. “The Monocle seasonal shop in its home store is a great way to meet more of our Hong Kong readers and subscribers – and it’s perfect timing, with our Hong Kong city survey in the May issue and our Hong Kong bureau launch this summer.”

The opening of the Lane Crawford x Monocle seasonal shop will be celebrated with a cocktail party on Thursday, 15 April, 2010 hosted by Tyler Brûlé and the Monocle and Lane Crawford teams. For entertainment, the Japanese jazz band Immigrant’s Bossa Band, will be performing inside Lane Crawford Pacific Place home store, welcoming guests as they arrive with their mellow and funky tunes. From April 15 to May 23, The Monocle Shop will feature Monocle’s range of home and lifestyle products, including Monocle x Comme des Garçons Hinoki fragrances and candle, Monocle x Ettinger jotters and Monocle notebooks.

Monocle magazine, the stylish creation of Tyler Brulé, is planning to open up a new bureau in Hong Kong, funded by the sale of bags. The three-year-old publication, which totes (ah-hah!) itself as the foppish offspring of Wallpaper* and The Economist, has flogged 8,000 bags from its two media outlets--one in London, the other in Los Angeles--has also bagged itself (oh dear) a weekly 30-minute TV slot on BBC World News.

The magazine, which flogs $1,425 branded BlackBerries alongside $30 CDs on its Web site, moved into profit ahead of schedule--which ain't surprising when you think that an annual subscription costs $112 for just ten issues. And no prizes for guessing that the Hong Kong office will have a shop beneath it. So come on, Tyler, is Monocle a magazine with a shop attached, or vice versa?

“Monocle is teaming up with iconic Asian retailer Lane Crawford to create a seasonal shop. Situated within the brand’s Paciﬁc Place home store at 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong, the shop will open on 15 April for five weeks. The Monocle team is travelling to Hong Kong next week to celebrate the first Asian home for the Monocle Shop with a cocktail party for 1,000 subscribers, shoppers and Hong Kong friends.”

Tyler Brûlé is funding the expansion of Monocle magazine to Hong Kong through branded merchandising. The global affairs, culture and design glossy magazine has sold some 8,000 Monocle branded bags in the past three years at its retail shops in London and LA, the proceeds of which are going to support the move.

Despite many predictions of the magazine's demise, Brûlé says to the Guardian that the company is making profit ahead of schedule. While many publications are floundering, Monocle is staying in the black by charging US$112 for ten issues a year sent to its 15,000 global subscribers. Its retail stores stock $1,425 branded BlackBerries as well as $30 CDs, and Monocle staff moonlight as J. Crew models.

Although Brûlé is on the board of directors for social networking service Dopplr, he only has this to say about jumping on the social media marketing bandwagon:

"Media owners don't want to be seen as old farts and feel they need to be Twittering under the table. If you want journalism across six different platforms then something's got to give and there's a lot of mediocrity across six platforms."

The future Monocle bureau in Hong Kong will most probably have a retail store attached.

Tyler Brûlé is opening a stylish store as a vehicle to sell copies of Monocle,his business and cultural affairs magazine.

“Canadian-born Tyler Brûlé has been prognosticating about globalism, materialism and design since he founded Wallpaper magazine in 1994. And now he's at it again, challenging the prevailing logic of cutting back by opening a stylish store as a platform to sell copies of Monocle, his high-end (that's $10) business and cultural affairs glossy.”